This invention relates to sprayers that are designed to automatically clean shower/bathing enclosures (especially those in residential buildings). More particularly, it relates to rotating sprayers having a nozzle which permits the verticality of the spray direction to be adjusted to account for different size enclosures and hard to clean localized stains.
The walls/doors of shower enclosures can become mildewed, coated with soap build up, hard water and/or mineral deposits, or become otherwise soiled, during typical use. Removing these deposits and stains has in the past required one to scrub the walls and doors by hand, particularly if significant amounts of time have passed between cleanings.
To assist in this task, cleaning chemicals have been sprayed, squirted, or otherwise applied on the surfaces to be cleaned. The walls are then scrubbed with a cloth, brush, or scrubbing pad, and then rinsed with water.
More recently some of these cleaners have been designed so that the amount of scrubbing can be reduced or even eliminated without compromising cleaning, particularly where the cleaners are sprayed on a daily basis. See generally, WO 96/22346 and WO 98/02511. These cleaners are designed so as not to themselves leave spots or other visible stains, even if not rinsed off for hours or days after application.
“No scrub” cleaners are preferably applied after the shower has been used. This is accomplished by a consumer keeping a pump spray bottle of the cleanser in or near the shower enclosure, remembering to do the spraying (which may be problematic if the consumer has just woken up), and being willing (or able) to spend the time necessary to spray the enclosure.
An alternative no scrub approach is to provide an automated sprayer device for a shower. For example, U.S. patent application publication 2004/0050959 discloses an automated cleansing sprayer that uses an internal pump to spray cleaning fluid from a reservoir out from a rotating nozzle against enclosure walls. One presses an activation button, leaves the shower, and lets the device run through a spraying cycle. There is no need for scrubbing the enclosure walls, or rinsing off the cleaning liquid.
However, not all enclosures are of the same size. For example, some shower enclosures are essentially square in top view and relatively small. Some bathing enclosures are elongated rectangular in top view and much larger. A rotating nozzle configured to clean a small shower may not direct cleaning liquid to all of the desired portions of a larger bathing enclosure.
To address that concern, one might use multiple nozzle holes to spread the spray more widely, or configure the device at a compromise setting half-way between optimized settings for the largest and smallest expected enclosures. However, either such approach might require extra cleaning liquid to achieve the desired cleaning.
Further, where such devices are first installed after an enclosure has already become heavily stained in a localized manner, there is a desire to use extra cleaner on the most stained area. However, such devices are designed to spray in a more uniform manner as a general rule. This may lead a consumer to use extra cycles of the device to achieve cleaning, and/or a consumer becoming dissatisfied with the cleaning performance.
In unrelated work U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,992,404, 5,536,200 and 5,248,094 showed various structures for pointing nozzles. However, these systems were not easily adaptable to the present environment. For example, the use of a universal nozzle joint in the context of the present device would be unsuitable as rotational forces would be likely to drive the nozzle out of the selected position.
Hence, a need still exists for improved automated shower cleaners, particularly with respect to capability of adjusting for different size enclosures and providing for localized stain treatment capability.